What Is A Cleanroom?

The term “cleanroom” is a seemingly simple one: a room that’s clean. But it’s actually more complicated than that. Cleanrooms are specialized environments that are necessary for sensitive processes and operations, requiring careful planning and consideration, as well as specialized equipment and construction. There are many types of cleanrooms, but what exactly is a cleanroom in the first place?

What is a cleanroom?

A cleanroom is a controlled environment that is regulated to certain standards specific to the application, for the purpose of preventing contamination of a process or product. This generally includes controlling the amount of particulate matter in the air, which involves air filtration, control of air entering the cleanroom, and special clothing and other equipment worn by people inside the cleanroom, such as sterile gowns and gloves.

Who uses cleanrooms?

Cleanrooms are used in a variety of industries, including (but certainly not limited to) aerospace manufacturing, medical device manufacturing, semiconductor manufacturing, water treatment, food preparation and manufacturing, medical marijuana grow rooms, biotech manufacturing, e-cigarette and e-liquid manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, industrial manufacturing, and hospitals. The industry and cleanroom purpose (clean storage, process control, manufacturing, quality testing, etc.) determine the cleanroom standard that is used to control the environment.

What are cleanroom standards and classifications?

Cleanroom standards define the amount of particulate contamination that is allowable in a cleanroom space for each particle size. Cleanroom classifications use these standards to classify cleanrooms and measure them for compliance. There are two classification systems that are generally used, categories in which overlap. One is the ISO Classification system, which has eight categories ranging from least strict (ISO Class 8) to most strict (ISO Class 1). The other is the Federal Standard 209E (Fed-Std 209E) which ranges from Class 1 (most controlled) to Class 100,000 (least controlled).